Northland College

Northland College
  • Academics
  • Campus Life
  • Admissions
  • Athletics
  • Centers
  • Sustainability
Search
  • Directory
  • Campus Map
  • Calendar
  • Alumni
  • Giving
  • News
  • COVID-19
More...
  • Academics
    • Undergraduate
    • Faculty
    • Resources
    • Opportunities
      • Internships
      • Undergraduate Research
      • Study Abroad
      • Off-campus Learning
      • Student Jobs
    • Graduate Success
    • Course Catalog
    • Transcript Request
    • Commencement
  • Campus Life
    • Dining
    • Housing
    • Outdoor Orientation
    • Diversity & Inclusion
      • Indigenous Cultures Center
        • Native Student Offerings
        • Powwow & Awareness
        • Community Outreach
        • Native American Museum
    • Get Involved
    • Bicycles & Gear Rental
    • Fitness Center
    • Services
      • Counseling Services
      • Accommodations
      • Health Services
      • Safety & Security
  • Admissions
    • Visit Campus
    • Tuition
    • Financial Aid
      • Scholarships
      • Grants
      • Loans
      • FAFSA
      • Veterans
    • Enroll
    • Meet Your Admissions Counselor
    • College Fairs
  • Athletics
    • Athletic Website
    • Athletic Facilities
    • Varsity Club Membership
    • Buy Team Gear
    • Hall of Fame
    • Annual Golf Classic
    • Camps, Leagues, Tournaments
      • 3on3 Basketball Tournament
      • Basketball Camps & Leagues
      • Youth Soccer Camp
      • Softball Camp
      • Volleyball Camps & Leagues
    • Give to Athletics
  • Centers
    • Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation
      • Our Work
      • Student Research Opportunities
      • Lab Services
      • Burke Center in the News
      • Water Summit
    • Center for Rural Communities
      • Rural Livelihood Initiatives
        • Quality of Life Database
        • Northwoods Community Survey
        • Opinion Polls
        • Local Food Systems
      • Human-Environment Connection
      • Publications
      • Data Visualizations
      • Student Opportunities
    • Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute
      • LoonWatch
        • About Loons
        • Protect Loons
        • Get Involved
        • Loon Appreciation Week and Poster
      • Timber Wolf Alliance
        • Wolf Awareness Week & Poster
        • Learn About Wolves
        • TWA Speakers Bureau
        • Wolf Status Reports
        • Vision for Wolves
        • Great Lakes Wolf Symposium
      • Youth Outreach Programs
      • SONWA Book Awards
        • SONWA Press Kit
      • Sigurd Olson Legacy
      • Apostle Islands Stewardship Symposium
      • Intangible Magazine
      • Forest Lodge Educational Campus
        • Rental Information
    • Hulings Rice Food Center
      • Compost Center
      • Larson Food Lab
      • Campus Gardens
      • Student Opportunities
  • Sustainability
  • Alumni
    • Alumni Board
      • Alumni Awards
    • Get Involved
      • Ask Our Alumni Panels
    • Transcript Request
    • Update Your Information
    • Events
    • Give
  • Giving
    • Christopher T. Morgan Scholarship
    • Meet Our Team
  • About Northland
    • President Karl I. Solibakke
    • Northland College Magazine
    • Campus Sculpture Tour
    • Advocacy & Public Discourse
    • Consumer Information

Student Q & A with Craig Childs

An Evening with Childs and Musicians Dag Bystrom and Andy Noyes

September 13, 2019

Share

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • email

Northland College SONWA 2018 winner Craig ChildsAuthor and wilderness traveler Craig Childs will be receiving his third Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award for his 2018 book Atlas of a Lost World: Travels in Ice Age America, at the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute Thursday, September 19 at 6:30 p.m.

Like many of his adventures in desert environments, Childs has decided to veer off-the-beaten-path with a non-traditional presentation. Childs will perform “storytelling theatre” with local musicians, Andy Noyes and Dag Bystrom.

Atlas of a Lost World chronicles the last millennia of the Ice Age, the violent oscillations and retreat of glaciers, the clues and traces that document the first encounters of early humans.

Northland College student Mya Simon, who is majoring in English and Native American studies, contacted Childs to ask him a few questions about his visit.

Mya: What does receiving the SOWNA award for the third time mean to you?

Craig: I believe Sigurd Olson and I have been on similar paths in different times, digging deep into the wild places we know by heart, and speaking for them, writing of their values, twists and turns, beauties, silences. His place was up here in wilderness lake country, mine is in the deserts of the Southwest, two powerful presences. Being honored with this award for the third time tells me that I have a mentor in this man, someone I should be listening more closely to.

Mya: Can you talk about your connection to Northland College in Atlas of a Lost World?

Craig: This award is what first brought me here and I fell for the place. I arrived in January during a white out and walked onto the frozen bay mesmerized. When I returned in later winter, the second time I received the award, it was during a Polar Vortex event. I was researching this Ice Age book at the time and found this to be a perfect opportunity to take a toboggan with gear and walk alone onto the lake where I spent the coldest nights of my life. I had helped students with the construction of a snow shelter days earlier, and I retreated to it for one of the nights. From this vantage, I could write about the evolution of shelters in the late Pleistocene, and how people survived intense cold in the company of mammoths and dire wolves.

Mya: Why are you collaborating with local artists for your event and can you expand on your unique use of storytelling theatre?

Craig: Coming as an outsider, I prefer to bring in local flavors, combining talents. Every storytelling I want to be an experiment, mixing media, adding spoken word to imagery to music. It can only be so scripted when it happens this way. The serendipity we create is always surprising and enchanting, and I’m looking forward to what comes out of it.

  • Several issues of the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute’s north land journal

    From the Archives: Into the north land

    By the spring of 1973, the Sigurd Olson Institute of Environmental Studies, still less than a year old, was humming with activity. Three Johnson Lectures…

    From the Archives: Into the north land
  • Author Edward Abbey

    Trespassing With Edward Abbey

    It was November 17, 1977, exactly two years and a week after the Edmund Fitzgerald sank with twenty-nine crew members on board. In those years…

    Trespassing With Edward Abbey
  • Mary Van Evera Visual Arts Center

    In Gratitude and Recognition

    After decades of generous support, The DeWitt and Caroline Van Evera Foundation will sunset their operations this year and make a final gift to Northland…

    In Gratitude and Recognition
  • A City of Ashland No Mow May sign on campus

    Northland College Participates in No Mow May

    Northland College is participating in “No Mow May,” an initiative aimed at fostering a better habitat for bees and other pollinators. Throughout the month of…

    Northland College Participates in No Mow May
  • Visit
  • Info
  • Apply

News

  • From the Archives: Olson Delivers the First Johnson Lecture

    Sam Johnson was an early supporter of environmental studies at Northland College…

  • A Dream Career That Started Here

    Tim Carpenter ’74 led the way up the steep portage carrying a…

  • Bridging a Passage

    Bridges hold an innate magic. Spanning spaces that would otherwise be difficult…

  • From the Archives: Assembling The First Advisory Board

    An essential component of Bob Matteson’s vision for the Sigurd Olson Environmental…

  • Fall Fest Returns September 21–24, 2022

    After two years without in-person reunions, Fall Festival is returning to campus…

  • Discovering the Northland Spirit

    Students from the Spiritual Life Center theme house first guided me through…

  • From the Archives: A Corner Office—in the Basement

    In its early days, what was then the Sigurd Olson Institute of…

  • 2021 Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Awards Announced

    The Northland College Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute has announced the winning 2021…

  • Celebrating the Best in Nature Writing

    “That’s an interesting idea,” said Elizabeth Olson. “Tell me more.” I was…

  • From the Archives: The Letter That Started it All

    Fifty years ago, an administrative assistant in the president’s office at Northland…

News Archive »

1411 Ellis Avenue
Ashland, WI 54806
(715) 682-1699 | Map
  • About Northland
  • Consumer Information
  • Privacy Policy
  • Take a Class
  • Employment
  • Campus Store

my.northland.edu

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2022 Northland College. All rights reserved.

https://www.northland.edu/news/the-epic-north-with-craig-childs

Our website uses cookies for necessary functions and to enhance your browsing experience. Learn more in our Privacy Policy.

Accept & Continue